- Hungary: Magyar files constitutional amendment to fire Orbán-allied president
Source: Politico
“Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar on Saturday filed a 12-point proposal to amend the constitution aimed at ousting President Tamás Sulyok and to reduce the influence of the previous administration of Viktor Orbán. One of the key points in the proposal that Magyar announced on social media is the ‘termination of the current president’s term of office.’ Other points include a three-term limit for members of the national parliament, the introduction of a more independent Constitutional Court, and a 70-year age limit for judges to serve, as well as the establishment of a National Asset Recovery and Asset Protection Office, to recover funds misappropriated during Orban’s rule. The current president of the court, Péter Polt, is 70, so the change would effectively end his term.” (07/05/26)
- FBI stole more than 600 drones near World Cup events
Source: NBC News
“The FBI says it has [stolen] more than 600 drones near FIFA World Cup sites after authorities determined the devices violated restricted airspace since the tournament began on June 11. The total number of [stolen] drones nationwide has doubled in less than two weeks. The FBI, along with accredited operators from local and state law enforcement around the country, is monitoring drone activity near World Cup competitions and related fan fest events.” (07/04/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/sports/soccer/fbi-seized-600-drones-world-cup-events-rcna353006
- Eastern US Power Grid Operator Orders Emergency Curbs as Electricity Use Nears Record
Source: US News & World Report
“U.S. power grid operator PJM, the nation’s largest covering much of the East Coast and Midwest, on Friday ordered customers in emergency electricity-reduction programs to curb their use, as it battled generator outages, overloaded transmission lines and surging air-conditioning demand during a prolonged heat wave. In an emergency alert, activated in line with utilities’ conservation programs, PJM said the order applied to industrial and residential electricity users with contracts that pay them in return for mandatory consumption cuts during emergencies. … The power grid operator serves 67 million people in the Mid-Atlantic, South and Washington, D.C., areas. Even before this week’s heat wave, it had been straining to overhaul a system pushed to the brink by surging energy demand from data centers and electric vehicles.” (06/03/26)
- NYC: Swift, Kelce married in ceremony officiated by Adam Sandler
Source: CBS News
“After months of speculation and predictions, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were married as they celebrated their wedding with hundreds of guests Friday at Madison Square Garden in New York City. A representative for Swift confirmed in a statement provided to CBS News that the two were married in a ceremony officiated by comedian Adam Sandler. He was described by the representative as a ‘friend’ of the couple. … The duo announced their engagement last August in a joint Instagram post captioned: ‘Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.'” (07/04/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/taylor-swift-travis-kelce-wedding-day-madison-square-garden-nyc/
- Germany: Protesters clash with police in anti-Nazi riots
Source: Fox News
“Tens of thousands of far-left [sic] protesters flooded the streets and clashed with police in the Germany city of Erfurt on Saturday as they protested the conservative [sic] Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. Videos showed police beating back agitators with batons and deploying anti-riot ordnance as the demonstrators chanted against the country’s conservative [sic] Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in a massive political rally. Police said over 30,000 people attended the demonstrations, according to the Associated Press (AP), and people could be seen carrying signs reading ‘Stop AfD Nazis’ and ‘For Diversity, Against Nazis.'” (07/04/26)
- From America 200 to America 250: A Personal Journey
Source: Chris’s Substack
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra“My journey from America 200 to America 250 encompassed a fifty-year period of deep losses and incredible triumphs. To have survived two emergency surgeries in October 2025, I count my blessings that I am even here to mark the two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of American independence. Quite frankly, given life-long health problems, it was almost inconceivable for 16-year-old Chris to project the possibility of 66-year-old Chris. But these fifty years of living, writing, and thinking about America and its founding document have illuminated a recurring motif in my work. What unites the 16-year-old and the 66-year-old is not merely an appreciation of ideas, but a commitment to understanding how ideas evolve alongside changing contexts.” (07/04/26)
https://chrismatthewsciabarra.substack.com/p/from-america-200-to-america-250-a
- The Beauty Of Online Anonymity
Source: Independent Institute
by Scott Beyer“Social media platforms are full of ‘anon’ accounts these days. Particularly with Elon Musk’s purchase of X (formerly Twitter) and the de-censorship of that platform, many such accounts are dropping explosive ideas—about race, gender, immigration, etc.—from behind the safety of their screens. Some say this is harmful for society—free speech gone too far—while others mock the accounts for being cowardly. But anonymous communication is a time-worn American tradition, providing a useful check to government power while normalizing ideas that needed to be stated and debated all along.” (07/03/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/07/03/the-beauty-of-online-anonymity/
- The Great American Betrayal
Source: The Hill
by John Mac Ghlionn“It wasn’t long ago that a losing candidate would give a dignified, mildly depressing concession speech, lick his wounds and try again in four years. That gentleman’s agreement is dead. Now, losing an election is treated as definitive proof of a deep-state conspiracy, while winning is celebrated as a mandate to crush the opposition. Elections in the U.S. now function less as democratic transfers of power and more like weaponized custody disputes. Supercharging this collective psychological break is the tech industry, which realized early on that rage drives engagement far better than nuance. The algorithms don’t want us to get along. Peace is bad for profit margins. Instead, citizens are all trapped in bespoke digital echo chambers designed to confirm their worst fears.” (07/04/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/politics/5952390-america-250-years-crisis/
- Why Jason Watson is Wrong, Even if You Agree With What He Stands For
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“No one forced Major Watson to accept an Air Force Commission. That choice — and the choice to be bound by the UCMJ and by DOD directives — was Major Watson’s and Major Watson’s alone. So was the choice to violate the rules he chose, of his own free will, to be bound by. While I’m on record as noticing that the Constitution doesn’t seem to matter much to those who rule us when those rulers find its strictures inconvenient, one of its features does make a good deal of sense for nearly any social or political system. That feature is requiring that civilians control the armed forces rather than vice versa.” (07/04/26)
- AI and the false consciousness trap
Source: Unherd
by Yanis Varoufakis“The connection with whether Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or DeepSeek are conscious or not is becoming clear. Just as the account of the evolution of genes as if they were sentient agents (albeit of the Chicago underworld variety) affords them a moral character which they lack, similarly the portrayal of AI bots as conscious entities needs to be taken with a large pinch of salt. Scientifically speaking, all that goes on is that microscopic perturbations yield macroscopic consequences. Their proliferation, or extinction, is an indirect by-product of that dynamic — nothing more. Causality abounds, but teleology, intent or consciousness do not.” [editor’s note: I suspect the only quality unique to humans may be our denial/fear that anything could possibly be like us; AI is just the current scenario in which many people feel the need to find … or perhaps fantasize … differences – TLK](07/04/26)
- Can We Restore the Principles of 1776?
Source: Town Hall
by Mark Lewis“The world (at least by choice) is not going back to the horse and buggy age. We live in technologically advanced societies that have given us many wonderful inventions that make our lives far more convenient, if not always simpler. We credit ‘science’ with these advances, and frankly, that is both good and bad. The good, of course, are the medical breakthroughs, etc. that have aided mankind to enjoy this existence longer and more comfortably. We all should rejoice and be thankful for this. But unfortunately, that has led some people, too many people, to elevate science as ‘God’. Thus, 1776, in all ways and thoughts, is ancient, outmoded history, to be abandoned and forgotten …” (07/04/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2026/07/04/can-we-restore-the-principles-of-1776-n2678804
- Freddy the World Cup Tourist and Tocqueville’s Hopes for America
Source: EconLog
by Joy Buchanan“In the 1830s, a French aristocrat named Alexis de Tocqueville traveled through the United States and returned home with Democracy in America, a penetrating analysis of a society marked by energetic voluntary associations and a restless spirit of enterprise. Tocqueville admired much of what he saw, but his verdict was not uncomplicated. Near the end of the book, he wrote, ‘I feel full of fears and full of hopes.’ Two centuries later, another European visitor is offering a portrait of America. Freddy (@FreddyLA7), a German soccer fan road-tripping across the country for the 2026 World Cup, has become an enthusiastic chronicler of American life. Where Tocqueville wrote volumes about institutions, Freddy posts photographs and exclamations about Buc-ee’s, Waffle House, and enormous houses. He’s also documenting the kindness of strangers.” (07/03/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/freddy-the-world-cup-tourist
- Unfinished Republic: What I’m Teaching My Daughter About America’s Founding
Source: The Daily Economy
by Laura Williams“Americans fall short of our founding ideal that all are created equal. But reformers have fought ever since to fulfill that promise.” (07/03/26)
- The principle of Americanness
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“Sometimes, the confluence of disparate events unexpectedly illuminates ideas and ideals that have universal and enduring resonance. Three occasions that come to mind this July Fourth, fittingly, revolve around the essential nature of Americanness, of what it is to be American: the weekend celebrations of 250 years of independence, the Supreme Court ruling this week on birthright citizenship, and the annual recognition of ‘Great Immigrants, Great Americans’. The thread of citizen rights and responsibilities weaves through each of these, uniting evolving conceptions of freedom, self-government, and individual achievement from the nation’s past through to its present. In their 1776 Declaration of Independence from British rule, the Founding Fathers claimed for all future Americans the ‘unalienable Rights’ of ‘Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness’.” (07/03/26)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/0704/The-principle-of-Americanness
- Vive la France!
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson“Congress was in Philadelphia, and Lafayette landed in South Carolina—he was an idealist, not a geographer. But with a letter of recommendation from Ben Franklin in his hand, he made his way up to Philadelphia, where Congress, grateful for the services of an enthusiastic young aristocrat who had the good taste to bring along his own money, commissioned the 19-year-old as a major general. … Lafayette was wounded at Brandywine, endured the hardships of Valley Forge, and was one of the key players when the tide was turned at Yorktown. Lafayette also provided a critical channel between the upstart Americans and the French monarchy, whose financial and naval power were simply indispensable to the project of American independence. No Lafayette, no United States of America. Spit hot contempt at foreign aid all you like: No foreign aid from France, no United States of America.” (07/03/26)
https://thedispatch.com/article/france-america-history-allies-lafayette/
- A Semiquincentennial Psalm
Source: American Greatness
by Thaddeus G McCotter“On the occasion of the Semiquincentennial anniversary of our free republic, many citizens will recognize and celebrate American Exceptionalism, including our nation’s Founders, its seminal documents, history, and undeniable legacy in advancing the cause of human liberty and self-government throughout the world. It is both appropriate and fitting that all this be done during the ‘America 250’ festivities. Still, there will also be indictments of all three from our republic’s current left-leaning malcontents, who often appear unaware of the irony and hypocrisy in their positions. The Left seeks to replace the very U.S. Constitution that protects their God-given right to assemble and voice their views. Further, despite their risible claims to promote ‘democracy’, the Left instead seeks to replace our free republic’s system of self-government with a centralized, elitist rule advancing a secular, identitarian civic religion of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’. Such an outcome is decidedly not ‘progressive’.” (07/04/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/07/04/a-semiquincentennial-psalm/
- Argue about American values. What could be more American?
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Ian Ayres“This weekend, to celebrate Independence Day — our outdoor Thanksgiving — families across the country will gather around picnic tables piled with potato salad and sweet corn and, for my family, Midwestern broccoli crunch salad slick with Miracle Whip. But we Americans rarely make room for observances that turn our attention back to the reason we are celebrating. For years, my own family and many others have filled that vacuum by reading the Declaration of Independence aloud, passing a copy with each person reading a sentence before handing it to the next, parents helping younger readers stumble through words like ‘unalienable.’ … On this semiquincentennial, I urge people to do more than read and hear it. We should talk about what it means.” (07/03/26)
- When the Law Kills Your Electric Car Dealership
Source: Wired
by Aarian Marshall“Dealers who invested in Polestar won’t be able to sell in the US next year after the federal government denied an authorization that would have allowed the company to avoid a Chinese tech ban.” (07/03/26)
- Empire Managers Invent Fake Threats So We Won’t Fight The Real Monsters
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“Can’t stop waging wars or the western empire will collapse. So they make up fake threats from dictators and tyrants and take action to stop them. Can’t stop inflating the military budget and circling the planet with more and more war machinery or the military-industrial complex will stop reaping profits. So they tell you to be afraid of Muslims and ‘terrorists’ and Russia and China and take action to protect you from them. … Can’t stop supporting Israeli atrocities or they’ll hamstring their hegemonic agendas in west Asia and make an enemy of the Zionists. So they create a boogie man of ‘antisemitism’ and set up envoys, inquiries and task forces dedicated to stopping it.” (07/04/26)
- AI and Exams
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman“The existence of AI, like the earlier problem of students buying papers online, reduces the ability of teachers to test their students but does not eliminate it, is inconvenient but not catastrophic. It makes some kinds of testing more difficult but not impossible; Serrano could have asked students whose midterms were suspiciously good to explain some of their answers and failed any obviously unable to do so. That would have been additional work for him and, judging by the article, not a policy Brown would have endorsed. Unwilling or unable to do that that he can base his future grading on work done in-person and adequately monitored.” (07/03/26)
- Tax Foreclosures May Be Unconstitutional Takings
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Rachel Chiu“Last week, the Supreme Court held in Pung v. Isabella County that when a home is taken by the government and sold at a tax foreclosure auction, the sale proceeds satisfy the constitutional requirement for ‘just compensation’ to the owner. This unanimous decision appears to be a loss for homeowners and property rights. But the justices stopped short of sanctioning the County’s actions, leaving some of the most important questions for another day.” (07/03/26)
https://fee.org/articles/tax-foreclosures-may-be-unconstitutional-takings/
- Pink Flame of Liberty, 07/04/26
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Mises Caucus: Laying Rotten Eggs in the LP’s Nest.” (07/04/26)
- The Political Orphanage, 07/03/26
Source: The Political Orphanage
“George Washington’s Anti-Daddy.” (07/03/26)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/george-washingtons-anti-daddy
- Try Liberty with Steven Nekhaila, 07/04/26
Source: Try Liberty with Steven Nekhaila
“Facing Tyranny: Ammon Bundy on Liberty, Property, and Resistance.” (07/04/26)
- Free Talk Live, 07/04/26
Source: Free Talk Live
“TJ the Spy back in his true home in the Shire for a week :: TJ’s experience being forced to testify to the feds in Ian’s case :: Ian’s railroading :: freeiannow.org :: Porcfest drama :: Public schooling is getting us fleeced :: Forkfest a success :: If your man isn’t cheating on you then he has a porn collection :: Mr.Bitcoin and Bitcoin Ghandi’s activism before Ian’s trial :: Try not to take the plea deal :: True spirituality rejects the violence of the empire :: 2026-07-04 Host: Bonnie, TJ The Spy, Uber Jorge, Riley O’Bill, Angelo.” (07/04/26)